I read in The Post Tuesday morning how Colorado State University is considering options to go private. Another article explains how the state of Hawaii is considering eliminating school on Fridays to save money.

Only an insane country spends more than $1 trillion on wars in Iraq and Afghanistan while cutting back on secondary and higher education for our children.

Nothing better than a lot of uneducated young people for the military-industrial complex.

Ken Hampshire, Brighton

This letter was published in the Oct. 23 edition. For information on how to send a letter to the editor, click here.

Your article reports that CSU is considering a public-private takeover in which certain colleges would become privately financed while others would remain public but with a cap on the number of students admitted with in-state tuition.

I hope that those Colorado legislators will remember the dire straits that our universities are in before they make another run at granting in-state tuition to illegal immigrants. Imagine what will happen: American kids competing for limited in-state openings with illegal immigrants. Is this what we pay our taxes for?

Rhonda Roseto, Westminster

This letter was published in the Oct. 23 edition. For information on how to send a letter to the editor, click here.

As all civil protests are voluntary exercises, Tina Griego’s column misses the point. Because Senior Support Services serves the homeless and I wanted to call attention to this fact, rendering myself homeless was the most logical form our protest could have taken. A sit-in at the Denver Regional Council of Governments (DRCOG) offices, for instance, would not have as effectively drawn attention to the plight of the homeless. Declaring, as she does, my “homeless protest” invalid simply because I chose to be homeless is like discounting all attempts to walk in another’s shoes.

It was a symbolic act, an attempt to use moral suasion to get DRCOG to restore funding for homeless seniors. Never going home, garaging my car, and sleeping outside on public property for a month was the best approximation of homelessness I could offer to demonstrate our outrage at the unnecessary and illegal de-funding of Senior Support Services.

All nonprofits are experiencing funding cuts. But while DRCOG’s funding was cut by 13 percent, it cut Senior Support’s funding by 100 percent. Having benefited from DRCOG funding for more than 25 years, this was a terrible blow.

Ted Pascoe, Denver

The writer is executive director of Senior Support Services.

This letter was published in the Oct. 23 edition. For information on how to send a letter to the editor, click here.

Your editorial on Living Streets omits an important reason that the Downtown Denver Partnership strongly supports the initiative’s goals: they are good for business. An Oct. 13 Denver Post article on the same issue notes how San Francisco merchants saw a 40 percent increase in sales after several traffic lanes were narrowed to slow traffic and accommodate other users. A recent study by CEOs for Cities showed major investments Portland, Ore., made in improving its metropolitan transit, bicycle and pedestrian access have helped reduce the average daily commute by 16 percent. Annually, this reduction in commuting expenses translates into $800 million that Portlanders can reinvest in their local economy.

We are repeatedly cited as one of the best downtowns in the U.S. in part due to our commitment to multi-modal access and pedestrian environment — core principles of the Living Streets philosophy. Thanks to the 16th Street Mall, RTD light rail, and additional urban bike lanes, more than half of downtown commuters use alternative transportation. Despite fewer lanes dedicated to auto traffic, congestion is no worse in downtown because moving people via these alternative methods is more efficient. Through our support of FasTracks, the 14th Street Streetscape Initiative, revitalization of the 16th Street Mall and additional downtown bike facilities, we continue to support these policies and want to see them extended to all of Denver. We firmly believe that the Living Streets Initiative is the right approach for accomplishing this.

John Desmond, Denver

The writer is vice president of urban planning and environment for the Downtown Denver Partnership.

This letter was published in the Oct. 23 edition. For information on how to send a letter to the editor, click here.

David Harsanyi concludes his commentary by saying that “They [the Republicans] have no moral or civic or political obligation to embrace bipartisanship.” Apparently, he must also believe that using one’s mind to arrive at solutions to complex problems, as opposed to regurgitating a political party’s rule book of responses, is also not an acceptable reason for arriving at bipartisanship.
Harsanyi describes Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, as “ideologically bewildered” because she voted “to move forward a government-run health care bill.” Snowe voted for the Baucus bill but has not favored a public option.

Harsanyi also views John McCain as “often displaying muddled … thinking … with no political, intellectual, or economic philosophy.” Why doesn’t he also take issue with the hand full of “Blue Dog” Democrats who have voiced serious concerns about all health care reform versions in front of Congress? Are Democrats allowed to think independently while Republicans are condemned to ideological puppetry?

Jim Cameron, Avon

This letter was published in the Oct. 23 edition. For information on how to send a letter to the editor, click here.

Mike Littwin supports passage of a public option “in some form.” Yet many a “public option” is neither public nor an option for all. Among these counterfeit public options are the “trigger,” the “state opt-out,” and a plan available to 10 million or fewer Americans; not one of these plans would do anything to control costs. A genuine — or “robust” — public option, on the other hand, would be available to all Americans and would have some potential for cost controls, especially if it were similar to an improved and expanded Medicare for all.

A bill with a counterfeit public option would be worse than no bill at all. A bill with a “robust” public option available to all Americans would be a step toward real health care reform, could at least begin to control costs, and would finally give all Americans a choice between a profit-driven system and a health-driven system.

Eliza Carney, Fort Collins

This letter was published in the Oct. 23 edition. For information on how to send a letter to the editor, click here.

How sad I was to see Marie Cocco’s farewell to readers in her last column on The Post’s website. She has been a clear and compassionate voice for average middle-class Americans and we will miss her carefully researched columns. Her last two columns on the corrupting influence of corporate cash in elections and legislations, and on the deliberate dismantling of the safety net for the middle class, are valuable observations. I hope we will see her continue as a contributor in some other manner.

Farewell and thank you, Marie Cocco.

Diane Curlette, Boulder

This letter was published in the Oct. 22 edition. For information on how to send a letter to the editor, click here.

Guidelines: The Post welcomes letters up to 150 words on topics of general interest. Letters must include full name, home address, day and evening phone numbers, and may be edited for length, grammar and accuracy.